Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, & Angaleena Presley Share History of Pistol Annies
Fans have come to know Pistol Annies as the new all-female group that includes superstar Miranda Lambert along with her equally talented friends, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe. Although the three members have been in the music business for years, Pistol Annies as a whole is new to the spotlight. Since they’re just now getting their music out, many fans don’t realize that Pistol Annies have actually been a group for almost three years.
“It was two years ago in November, three years this November,” Miranda tells CountryMusicIsLove of the time when Pistol Annies began.
Longtime friends Miranda and Ashley first had the idea of the all-girl trio when they were writing songs that didn’t exactly fit into either one of their solo careers. They didn’t want to let go of the music, so they simply created a new outlet for it.
“I’ve known Miranda for about six or seven years,” Ashley explains to CountryMusicIsLove. “Me and Miranda had hung out and written songs. I met Angaleena here in Nashville. We were set up by our publishers and we had written a couple times. Me and Miranda had been writing these songs that weren’t really for her solo career or mine, but we still didn’t want to let them go ‘cause they still kind of represented us. We kind of played around with the idea of starting a girl group and one night I just asked if she heard Angaleena’s record and she hadn’t. I played it for her and we called Ang and said we wanted to start a girl band and she thought we [were] crazy and she thought we were just in slumber party mode, but the next morning we called her and bugged her again and she said she’d come meet us.”
The rest, as they say, is history. The girls continued on with their solo careers while still remaining members of PA. They each have their own identity in the group, an identity that’s summed up by their nicknames. The girls explain:
ASHELY: I forgot how it came about but we each have three such distinctive personalities and we have a common thread too. But I’m “Hippie Annie”… I talk about love and I wear flowy dresses and put flowers in my hair and things like that.
MIRANDA: I’m “Lonestar Annie” because I’m from Texas and I’ve got that southern hospitality mentality… but also will kick your ass if needed.
ANGALEENA: I’m “Holler Annie” because I grew up in eastern Kentucky in the coal fields. My dad was a coal miner and, you know, it’s real hillbilly where I’m from. It’s a great place. I love it, but it’s real country. I was raised at the head of a holler so Miranda dubbed me “Holler Annie.”
Given their past and the solid foundation that they’ve built together, it’s not hard to see where Pistol Annies’ future is headed. Their debut song, “Hell On Heels,” has given fans back the sound of old-school country, a sound that has been relatively absent in recent years. Their full-length album is on the way and the girls are hoping to follow that up with their own tour.
“We plan on doing a Pistol Annies tour one day. Maybe this winter. Maybe just do it a couple weekends of just Pistol Annies dates, which would be awesome,” Miranda tells us.
While fans keep their fingers crossed for tour dates soon, they won’t have to wait much longer for more music from the power-packed threesome. Hell On Heels, the debut album from Pistol Annies, will be released this coming Tuesday, August 23.
